


The Dark One's Secret

by AquaJasmine23



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 21:03:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1997718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquaJasmine23/pseuds/AquaJasmine23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle’s assignment is as follows: find out what Rumplestiltskin is hiding, or risk death at the hands of the Queen. She has secrets of her own, but above all she must discover the Dark One’s secret so she can assassinate him. Her mission was to kill him; her destiny is to love him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dark One's Secret

**Author's Note:**

> My second story for the Cover Bunnies contest! Cover and title by Emilie Brown, go to her profile for details!  
> I was watching Skin Deep for what must be the thousandth time and I had an idea: what if Belle really was a spy for Regina, sent to seduce and disarm the Dark One so as to discover his weaknesses? Inspired by a wild plot bunny- and Rosamund Hodge’s Cruel Beauty, which I am in love with.  
> This timeline is going to be quite erratic- because it is AU, things may happen in completely different times than canon OUAT. Feel free to ask me about it if you’re confused.  
> And also, I do not own Once Upon a Time or Cruel Beauty. Now on to the story.  
> (Actually, the quotes come first, because I love quoting. I stole Regina’s line from Cruel Beauty, as is seen below. Also that line from the summary about Belle’s mission and her destiny.)
> 
> “If no one in the entire world cared about you, did you really exist at all?” - Tessa Gray (Clockwork Angel)  
> ”Her mission was to kill him. Her destiny was to love him”- Cruel Beauty  
> “A virgin’s knife in a virgin’s hand can kill the beast that rules the land” - Rhyme (Cruel Beauty)

__

_“Please leave me alone!”_

_“You will repent for your crimes, witch!” the shadowy cleric screamed._

_“Please!” she begged, desperation seeping through her voice._

_“I hope you rot in Hell, demon!” another shouted angrily, brandishing a whip that glowed red like it was lit on fire._

_She arched back in terror, kicking and scrambling, but it was hopeless; the ropes that bound her were nigh unbreakable. “Stay away from me!” she shrieked, and for a moment there was nothing but her fear. In the next, it was gone, and she could think again._

_Focusing like never before, powerful in her darkness, Belle blinked- and then a pulse of white light shot out, striking the clerics at the heart and knocking them against the wall, where they were wiped into nonexistence, the only evidence of their lives being starched white robes that fell to the cold stone._

_The realization struck her like ten thousand knives straight to her heart: she had killed. Whether they be monsters disguised as holy men or men disguised as monsters, it was murder, and there was no coming back from death. She had taken their lives to save her own._

_Brokenhearted, she summoned what meagre bits of strength she had left and pushed away from the block of stone that had served as her torturing bed, walking to the glassy door to the balcony. With a sweep of her arm and a glimmer of raw magic, the door opened._

_Tears pouring down her face like the raindrops that splashed and soaked her deep blue shift, Belle walked to the edge, where nothing but a knee- high glass wall prevented her fall to the marble nine stories below, and slumped down, curling into a ball and finally letting her sobs take control._

_Seventeen was much too young an age to be dealing with this sort of accursed life. But as it often seemed, Destiny didn't allow for much of a choice._

* * *

The voice of Regina’s private guard broke Belle away from endless reminiscing. “The Queen has requested your presence in her chamber,” he told her, gruffly, determinedly looking away from her face.

She pushed away the feeling that resembled claws trying to burrow out of her heart from the inside and stood up, narrowly avoiding a collision with the stone icicle that stuck out of the roof of her prison. She could feel the guard’s dark eyes whip up and down her body, but she was long past caring in her state. She had worn the same torn sapphire shift for longer than she cared to remember.

“What does Her Majesty want this time?” Belle said tiredly, her raised brow more exhausted than sardonic. But trying to pull fragments of pity from the tenaciously cruel guards was next to impossible, and after she had nearly succeeded once, the Queen had made sure to only send the most monstrous of Black Knights to her cell on the rare occasion when she needed fetching.

Claude unlocked the door and reached through to grab her thin arm, and she winced at his rough grip- but said nothing. In most circumstances, silence was best, most often in the shadows of twilight. “That is for the Queen to know.”

* * *

Regina was tired of lacking the knowledge that her mother had possessed.

Cora had known how to kill the Dark One- in fact, she’d known many of his varying weaknesses, including both emotional and physical- but she had never told her daughter any of it, and nor had she written it down.

So there was only one way left.

When the girl entered, it sealed the pieces of her mental puzzle straight away. She was beautiful, admittedly, Regina thought with some distaste, what with the long auburn curls and brilliant blue- iolite eyes. But this could be worked to her advantage. The girl was pretty, of course, but was her allure powerful enough to fool the Dark One himself?

* * *

“I have a task for you,” the Queen said, bluntly, with a quirk of her bloodred lips.

The small part of Belle’s mind that wasn't occupied with thoughts of _they died they all died they’re dead I killed them all_ reacted to this. She met Regina’s dark eyes, not bothering to respond.

“I trust you’ve heard of the Dark One,” she said coldly, waving a hand at her mirror. The genie appeared in a swirl of violet magic, stone- faced and ready to do her bidding.

 _The Dark One?_ Belle knew of him from her old studies- knew he was a powerful mage, who used to be a spinner, endarkened by an ancient curse. “Yes,” she said simply, hoping that none of her fear showed in her eyes.

“You will become his… maid,” the Queen continued contemptuously, “and spy on him- so as to speak. You will report to me through mirror magic.” She said it all with an icy lack of emotion, expressing no care for Belle’s feelings on the matter whatsoever.

 _No_ ran through Belle’s head, but she refused to speak, to say it aloud. That would bring consequences. But- really, she didn't know what to think, let alone feel. Her innocent sixteen- year- old self would've thought of this with optimism- maybe even hope- but now, she couldn't let herself dream that a creature such as the Dark One himself- the only one the Queen really feared, Belle thought- would help someone like her.

“You will fake Princess- I trust you recall how- of your kingdom once more. Avonlea. He will come to deal for you. You will go with him to his castle. You will deceive him into falling in… ‘love’ with you- and you shall do whatever it takes to get him to fall for you, no matter what vile action. Should you complete the assignment,” Regina went on, “you may return to your life before this.”

_That’s the Queen- never anything but straightforward._

It nearly pained her to inquire of it, but this was her existence now. “Should I discover what his weakness is,” she began, and was amused at the Queen’s shocked eyes- did Regina really think Belle wouldn't gather what her real mission was to be? - “am I to kill him?”

Regina laughed now. Her dark eyes- full of shadows, shadows of her past- glittered as she smirked. “Oh, the bookworm has teeth!” she chortled. Belle flinched. “Indeed. Should you be able to, after you seduce him… collapse that castle. I want to see him buried in the ruins-“ She stabbed a pointed nail for emphasis. “- I want to see him _burn_.”

But the lost princess could scarcely listen to the Evil Queen’s malevolence; she focused on the words _after you seduce him_ , feeling as though she might collapse into herself, and never rise again.

After all these years trapped in the Queen’s dungeon, enduring the horrific torments wrought upon her, she was still a maiden. Regina had saved her from Gaston, at least. Belle recalled the day with vivid clarity.

* * *

_She choked. “Please let me go.”_

_Her fiance - ex fiance, should she say- gave her a wicked smirk. “No.” Relentlessly, he clawed at the laces of her gown- she shrieked- and nearly ripped the back open. “You should be grateful that I saved you from the clerics, princess. I deserve a reward, hmm?”_

_“LET GO OF ME!” Belle screamed, terrified. She would've preferred the clerics. “HELP!” Her maid, the help, her father- all gone. Her best friend, Bea, was dead. All because of-_

_Her head spun. “HELP!” she screeched again. There was nothing, she knew. She was lost._

_But lost meant retrievable._

_Gaston clasped the shoulders of her dress and prepared to tear them away. Belle cried as he pulled harder, his dagger at his hip clashing against her thigh and drawing a thin line of blood as the silk began to rip-_

_And then he was immobilized, encased in a vivid scarlet glow. Belle started, leaping backward immediately._

_“Calm down, for God’s sakes,” said a voice, startling her even in this fear._

_She turned to examine her saviour, who was outfitted in a blue dress, the colour close enough to black to pass for a funeral trip. Her hair was dark, pulled up and streaked with indigo, strands trailing loose past her pale, exposed shoulders. It was a gown made to seduce. “Aren’t you going to thank your rescuer?”_

_“T- thank you,” Belle stammered, suddenly aware that her own dress had been successfully ripped by the now frozen Gaston, and the light blue silk pieces scattered behind and around her as she stood. She turned red, barely resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest, of which was only covered by her almost- sheer cream white bodice._

_Belle’s rescuer sniffed disdainfully. “Bring her to the carriage,” she ordered a guard beside her, who until that moment Belle had not noticed_. So, _Belle thought with shocking clarity as they tore her from her own castle, from her life and all her existence,_ I shall leave one prison and enter another.

* * *

Belle could nearly see her arms trembling as she folded them across her chest, shivering in the fragile chill of Regina’s living quarters. “Is there a way you know of to kill him immediately?” she asked, knowing it was a stupid question but needing it to be confirmed anyways- if there was a way to not seduce her way into this like a bar wench, then she would gladly take it- but Regina’s face-

“Yes,” the Queen said, with startling kindness. “‘ _A virgin’s knife in a virgin’s hand can kill the beast that rules the land_ ’, so they say.”

Belle was nearly vibrating in fear. She clenched her jaw, feeling the muscles tighten. “A virgin’s knife?” she repeated.

Regina’s expression faded and recovered, like a scroll being unrolled and rerolled. She made no visible movements, but magic sparked like a purple flame in her right hand, and there appeared a dagger. Bright but dark at the same time. It was a glass knife, with a shimmering gold hilt, so shiny it was nearly reflective. The words _mene mene tekel upharsin_ were etched in glowing white, vivid enough to burn Belle’s eyes, on the dagger’s smooth blade. A kris knife, she gathered, recognizing the curve and wave of the blade from her time in the armoury- before she had been taken captive. It seemed like millennia ago, the concept of freedom as foreign to her as the words on the knife.

“The Writing on the Wall,” said the Queen. “‘You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting’. Fitting for such a monster, I think.” She nodded at Belle and held the dagger out.

Shamefaced and sorrow- filled, she took it, the glass cool as ice against her skin. “When?” asked the forgotten ex- princess, and she heard the shake in her voice.

Regina turned back into the Evil Queen as she twisted her hand sharply, a dark gesture, and Belle choked on the magic as it flooded her soul and ripped it apart. “At dawn tomorrow.”

* * *

She heard the voices in her head. Voice, really; it was Regina’s, instructing her, pushing at her thoughts and bending them. There was pain- blinding pain- but it was to be ignored. And so Belle endured, and listened to the Queen.

 _Keep quiet at first. Act innocent and fearful, terrified of consequences. Obey him_.

Belle couldn't prevent herself from thinking, _but what if he takes me for himself before I…_

Regina, unsurprisingly, had an answer ready immediately. _He won’t. You do not know him, Princess, but I do. He will not. But should he try… Let him, but be scared. That is what will be expected._  

Being scared, at least, wouldn't be difficult.

_But do not act disgusted of him. Simply pretend you’re the little princess who wanted to save her kingdom._

_And soon you must allow him to see that you plan to hunt and destroy him. Only after you are certain he cares for you, or at least lusts after you, for then he will not kill you. Do not allow him to know of me or the Kingdom’s involvement; simply say it was your mother’s last wish, and no more._

_Do not lose that dagger. It is a virgin knife, never used and therefore never cleansed. You lose the long game if you lose that blade, daughter of Avonlea. You must choose whether to use the knife before he takes you or discover a stronger weakness and use it against him. I have no wish to end his life myself; that is your task, whether it be by virgin’s knife or a darker power._ _Great power comes with great weakness, and the Dark One’s must be a terrible secret to bear. Belle of Avonlea, discover the Dark One’s secret. Tell me, and then kill him._

_Or I will kill you._

Regina’s voice left her mind, seemingly as sudden as it had come. Belle collapsed like she did that night, the last night, and then there was nothing. Nothing to deceive and no one to save her. There was only darkness as it enveloped and destroyed her. When she would wake, she would be strong, her resilience untouchable, and she would kill the Queen’s foe. And then she could return home, if there was anyone left to want her there. But for now, she was nothingness.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize ahead of time for any OOCness, which I’m sure happened at some point or will soon. I’ve been having quite a rough time with balancing infuriating plot bunnies that sneak into my head while I’m trying to work on stories that already actually exist, and life has been whacking me in the face recently. This won’t be updated all too frequently until I finish my other cover bunny story, but I’ll try to write fast. :) Thanks for reading, please review!


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